


Reprise

by arcticFritillary



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-19
Updated: 2012-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-29 19:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/323298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcticFritillary/pseuds/arcticFritillary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How do you escape a time loop?</p><p>Or: Robin has entered an endless recursion of time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reprise

**(zero)**  
It isn't the mission that went badly. Not that it went well, but getting hit by mysterious magical spells is easier to deal with than making out with his best friend.

Because a magical spell made Kid Flash do it.

Because it happened in the middle of a reconnaissance mission gone wrong.

Because Robin liked it and kissed back.

Because Kid Flash likes girls, not boys.

Because Kid Flash is trying to rationalize it in some way, with or without science, and that means it doesn't matter if Robin had or hadn't kissed back.

Because he can't stop thinking about it so his face is probably permanently red.

Because, stumbling into the manor rather than stay at Mount Justice for the night even though he's dead on his feet, he wants more and will never get it.

 **i.**  
It takes a lot not to flip out when Monday rolls around again. Not the next Monday, like he had been expecting, but the one that just went by. Before that damnable mission.

Or this damnable mission, if he's trying to get the tense right.

Robin spends so much effort trying to make the mission go the same way as last time (even though he seems to be the only one who remembers how it went before) that he forgets to kiss back when Kid Flash is enthralled by a spell.

The slightly horrified look on his face ( _it wasn't like that last time_ ) when he breaks the kiss ( _five seconds early_ ) is enough to make Robin wonder if he is wrong about Kid Flash only liking girls. He dismisses the thought just as quickly (which doesn't make sense, because if _dismiss_ is the opposite of _miss_ shouldn't he be suddenly having it?). It's probably KF realizing sooner that he shouldn't be kissing teammates during a firefight. Especially if they don't kiss back and are only thirteen years old.

If Robin had time to regret it, he would. It's not like he will get another chance to kiss him.

 **ii.**  
Or not.

 **vi.**  
The kisses are getting longer each time Robin remembers to kiss back.

 **viii.**  
Miss Martian is the first to notice something is wrong with Robin. His mind is screaming _stop_ and he can't be bothered to keep up his mental defences.

"Um, Robin, if there's something you want to talk about—" she says before she mind-links the rest of the team.

"I'm fine," he replies, a little too tersely because this isn't supposed to happen. However, it is nice that someone else finally noticed something was wrong.

 **xv.**  
"Well, if you want to talk about, I'll make a private mind-link for us," she replies.

Robin almost takes her up on that offer before stopping himself. They won't have time for a proper conversation during the mission anyway.

 **xxi.**  
He decides to tell her the truth. Carefully concealed truth because all he has is insane theory and conjecture about what is happening and why.

It's just—he's not sure how much more of this he can endure without telling anyone.

"I've had dreams about this mission," he starts. "They end OK, but—"

 **xxvi.**  
"—I don't know how to make them stop. We just do the same thing over and over again and I always come back to this dream."

 **xxix.**  
Miss Martian purses her lips in thought and seriously considers his dilemma, these multiple, repeating whatevers (he's lived this too many times now for it to be simple time travel, but it's not a dream either). He knows she is because he's had this conversation with her before and she doesn't think he is crazy.

Which is extremely comforting because he isn't certain if he is sane anymore.

 **xxxiii.**  
"Maybe it would help if you tried changing it a bit," she suggests.

He would be lying if he said he hadn't considered that. He would also be lying if he said he isn't afraid it will all go terribly wrong if he does change anything.

 **xxxvii.**   
_Next time._

 **xxxviv.**  
So changing how the mission went didn't get him out of this mess, but at least it isn't the same damned thing anymore. He wants to thank M'gann, but she doesn't know how much she helped him by saying that a long time ago (though how long ago that actually was is up to debate).

 **xlii.**  
He finishes the battle before it starts with a timed, flying explosive.

No make out session, but maybe he will get out of this unbearable loop this time.

 **xliii.**  
Nope, but he gets to kiss Wally again.

 **li.**  
 _Well this is different,_ he thinks and he doesn't worry about privacy because the mind-link is down.

This time, the mission goes the same way, ending with a battle. The battle, too, goes the same way except this time Artemis gets hit by the kissing spell instead of Wally.

Which is pretty nice, too, if he's honest. What she lacks from not being Wally she makes up for in sheer skill.

 **liv.**  
Actually, kissing Artemis is better than kissing Wally.

 _Her tongue._

 **lxviii.**  
"What are you doing?" hisses Robin. Superboy drops him, looking bemused. His t-shirt is smoking where the magical blast struck. Kevlar would have protected Robin, but cotton and polyester are not as durable.

"I... I don't know," he answers. He turns and drops into low stance. "Come on. We got wizard butt to kick."

 **lxix.**  
This time, Superboy doesn't take the hit for him. Instead, he grabs Robin, tosses him over everyone else's head, and almost dodges the blast.

 **lxx.**  
Dodges the blast. Looks less confused, more assured as he does it, too.

 **lxxviii.**  
"Duck!" yells Robin. Superboy stops in his tracks and knelt. Hands push down on his shoulders and—"Up!"

Anyone else would have been upset at being used as human springboard, but the look on Superboy's face suggests that he doesn't mind.

 **lxxxii.**  
The mage who they are fighting is smiling. It's a wide, toothy smile that fills his eyes with a triumphant light, like a chimpanzee before it attacks or the Joker when you realize you're going to have a hell of a time getting out of his deadly joke if you even can. He's staring at Robin as if he is the most amazing toy in the world and _why is he smiling like that_ —

 **lxxxiii.**  
Oh.

 **lxxxiv.**  
That's why.

 **xcix.**  
"Are you all right?" asks Aqualad before they start on the mission. Before Batman gives them the mission. Robin isn't supposed to be here so early in the timeline, but he can't help it.

( _Not after that._ )

( _And that._ )

They speak in the room Aqualad claimed for himself. It has the best en suite bathroom, but Robin is the only one who looked at the floor plans to know that fact. The others are in the entertainment room, still squabbling about which movie to watch.

( _And especially that._ )

"I'm fine," Robin manages to choke out, because he's not supposed to lose it now.

(He can cry when the mage kills someone in this timeline, too.)

 **cv.**  
"What is the phrase for when you feel as though you have done the same thing before?" asks Aqualad when they are travelling to the drop point. It's a rare break in character so Robin humours him. He found he likes to listen to Aqualad talk. His voice is comforting (even as he telling Robin that he has to _lead the team now no I'm not ready yet_ his blood is redder than human blood, soaking his clothes with its warmth).

"Déjà vu."

 **cix.**  
"Is there a separate phrase for when you dreading what is about to happen when you feel you have done this before?" Kaldur'ahm writes on a piece of paper Robin found in his utility belt because he does not want the others to hear.

Robin shakes his head. He still hasn't figured out what to call this entire section of his life.

 **cxi.**  
 _Déjà mal_ , he almost says, but Kaldur'ahm hasn't asked this time.

(He misses being his confidant more than he thought he would.)

 **cxvii.**  
Martians bleed green, so dark it is almost black.

 **cxx.**  
"W-what?" croaks Robin when he finds his voice. The portal announces Red Arrow's arrival, but he barely takes notice of it. He has only eyes for Batman, who has just announced he is not going on this mission. "Why?"

( _this shouldn't be happening why is it happening why why why_ )

"The team is... concerned about your health," says Batman, and his voice is a little off, a little thick because he also is concerned. Robin wasn't home at all this time, taking a zeta beam to HQ as soon as he woke up, not even taking a moment to tell Batman where he was going.

Before he can come up with a reason why he shouldn't be taken off the mission, Black Canary and Red Tornado lead him away. He doesn't even get to see his friends go.

 **cxxi.**  
When he gets taken off the mission again Robin just wishes that they make it home alive this time.

 **cxxxii.**   
_Why does this keep happening?_

 **cxxxviii.**  
Everyone watches in horror as Robin argues with Batman to go on the mission.

(No one ever makes it back.)

 **cxliv.**  
He wins the argument this time, but it's only due to the tension in Batman's shoulders that even he isn't aware of.

(It is hard to bury parents, harder to bury children, and harder still to tell others that they must bury theirs.)

 **cli.**  
He just wishes it would help.

 **clxiii.**  
Clones don't dissolve when they die. They bleed like everyone else does.

 **clxxxvi.**  
"Be careful!" snaps Roy, standing in front of Robin as he tries to treat Artemis's wounds ( _please don't die [this time]_ ). He fires arrow after arrow, aiming to kill instead of maim.

Everyone makes it home alive.

 **clxxxvii.**  
But not this time.

 **cc.**  
It's a stupid, foolish, and suicidal plan (and he isn't sure if the emphasis should be on the _sui-_ or the _-cidal_ or on the entire word), but he is tired. So fucking tired.

And if it gets everyone else out of the battle, _out of the loop_ , alive, then he is OK with dying.

 **cci.**  
Except it doesn't work.

 **ccxiv.**  
Wally mimes for Robin to lean in close because he hasn't the strength to raise his head anymore. He spent too much energy during the fight and is bleeding. The mage goes after everyone, but his attacks are always the most vicious when he targets Wally. Some of his lacerations, so deep they bleed steadily instead of oozing slowly, are knitting themselves back together. The second- and third-degree burns covering his body, melting his suit to his skin, are trying to heal as well. His body will kill itself in its attempts to heal, taking energy and nutrients from places it cannot afford to sacrifice.

(Sometimes it is his brain.)

(Sometimes it is his heart.)

(Sometimes it is everything.)

"You're the best friend I ever had," he whispers. He is coughing and choking on the words, but Robin knows what he says ( _because you've said them so many times before_ ). "I love you."

 **ccxxxi.**  
"We've done this before, haven't we?" asks Superboy just before they start surveillance.

The bio-ship seems too small all of the sudden, as if M'gann shrank it or someone siphoned off all of the oxygen inside. Robin has to force himself to inhale and exhale regularly, to not hyperventilate, but that gets harder to do as the silence goes on.

 **ccxlv.**  
"Yes," Robin says this time. Everyone turns to him and stares, and he opens his mouth to say, "I'm not crazy," but the words are too big and—

"Well, that explains a lot," says Wally, and the tensions bursts like a balloon. Air, precious air fills the cabin and Robin sighs with relief. Someone believes him.

 **cclviii.**  
"Have we ever succeeded?" asks Kaldur'ahm asks. He checks his water-bearers to see that they are full, his nervous tell. (Last time, M'gann asked, and Robin threw up his mental barriers to keep her from seeing what he's lived through because he doesn't want her to get hurt.)

"Sometimes," admits Robin. "Not a lot of the time recently since he also keeps figuring out that history is repeating itself."

 **cclxxiii.**  
"Sometimes," he says, and because it is Artemis (whose secret he knows because she told it to him so many times before and he always tells her that _it doesn't matter you've changed shh it's OK I'll bring you home to your mother_ ) he continues a little differently. "Mostly when you and Roy stop pulling punches."

M'gann, Superboy, and Kaldur'ahm are confused by the colloquialism. Wally pales beneath his freckles. Roy and Artemis only nod (even though Roy looks a little green now) and adjust their quivers.

 **cclxxxix.**   
_How do..._

 **ccci.**   
_...you..._

 **cccxiv.**  
They figure it out before the mission is handed out and plan accordingly. The surveillance doesn't fall through and they don't fight the mage at all.

 **cccxxviii.**   
_...escape a..._

 **cccxxxii.**  
"Maybe our mentors would know," suggests M'gann. She rubs Robin's back in soft circles while he throws up in a bucket. The rest of the team, Roy included, try to figure out a way to break the loop.

 **cccilvii.**   
_...time loop?_

 **ccclxv.**  
Everyone has picked up on it now, even the adults. Their mentors are there, discussing amongst themselves, and J'onn has stopped going through his memories after seeing his niece die for the fifth time. The League cancelled Booster Gold's trip to the past during this iteration for a consult on time travelling. Except he is also throwing up because he tried and can't go to the future for some reason. He's cut off for some reason and can't go home anymore.

 **ccclxx.**  
Robin understands that feeling.

 **cccxcix.**  
"What are you doing, Superboy?" says Robin. The cave is either dark or filled with unnatural light, but somehow the sun is reflected off the object in his hands.

"Trying something new," he replies and puts on the Helm of Fate.

 **cd.**   
_Why... why do they..._

 **cdxvi.**  
"Roy, don't—"

"—I have to try!"

 **cdxxiv.**   
_...keep trying...?_

 **cdxxxii.**  
"Maybe a girl will have better luck," says Artemis, despite Robin's warning, and Fate's aurulent light fills the cavern.

 **cdxlviii.**  
It never works.

Everyone who puts on the Helm has too high affinity for it or something, and the Doctor goes off to defeat the mage rather than help Robin. He thinks that's how it will fix things but it's not _it's not helping stop doing that help me._

 **cdlv.**   
_Please._

 **cdlxi.**   
_I can't escape._

 **cdlxxxiii.**   
_I can't even die._

 **dv.**   
_But I can't..._

 **dxxxviii.**   
_...do this..._

 **dli.**   
_...much longer... ___

 **(five hundred seventy-one)**  
"P-please," sobs Robin. M'gann holds his hand, a comfort for him as well as her, while Roy wipes his face with a cool cloth. Artemis is inside Doctor Fate's sigil, too, singing something softly in Vietnamese to keep him calm as he—using Wally's body, and the situation is finally bad enough to make him stay and Wally has too low affinity to fight properly anyway—untangles the fate-threads around Robin, releasing each world that is tied to his existence and giving it back a future. Superboy is there, unconscious but absolutely necessary, anchoring them to this reality, this iteration, because no one else could stand the strain. Kaldur'ahm is outside with Queen Mera and Zatara, unmaking the mage's spells that did this, the ones which took on a life of their own inside Robin's mind and decided they didn't want to die. The collapse of the multiverse means nothing as long as they survive.

"I c-can't do t-this anymore," he says.

"Just a little longer," replies Batman, holding him in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Original kink meme fill here: http://yj-anon-meme.livejournal.com/3983.html?thread=8011407#t8011407


End file.
